Page 20

Chapter Eighteen

Caivid

“ B e calm,” Brovdir hissed into my ear. “Fighting will only make this worse.”

I took deep breaths and tried to follow his orders. My cheek stung from where he’d hit me, but I could tell he hadn’t put even half of his force into it. The punch had only been for show.

The group of villagers was fifteen strong. Their weapons were drawn, if you could call pitchforks and grain cutters weapons , and their eyes glared daggers right through my chest. They whispered threats behind their hands so loudly I knew they must have meant for me to hear them.

But Susara was fine. She was helping her father to a log. A few of the calmer humans had gone over to check on her. To help her. Only three. And after she reassured them, they returned to the group. Went back to their anger.

The mob wasn’t after her.

They wanted me.

“Waston, be calm.” The village headman’s tone was laced with exhaustion. At least he was being reasonable. He was a tall but plump man with a kind expression that was not mirrored in the faces of the other humans.

“Why should she be calm?” one of the men raged. His black hair was greasy and his dark eyes lingered on Susara far longer than I thought necessary. My fists balled. “One of our women was stolen from her bed. ”

“Stolen from my bed?” Susara’s incredulous tone was obvious even as she helped her father to settle on a nearby boulder. “What are you talking about, Jophel?”

Jophel.

The male who wanted her.

I gritted my teeth, and my claws threatened to unsheathe.

“You see!” Jophel shouted. “She is so distraught by what she’s gone through she doesn’t even recall what happened to her! ”

“That’s right!” the elder woman called Waston said. Her voice was so high and shrill one could hear it echoing in the trees. “Her mind is so clouded by fear that she cannot think straight!”

“I’m thinking just fine ,” Susara said. “And I have no idea what any of you are talking about. Jophel, give me back my crook.”

“Why did you let go of it in the first place?” Jophel’s voice was low and his grip tightened on the crook. His beady eyes narrowed on her before they flashed to me. “What could have caused you such terror as to leave it behind?”

“I didn’t leave it behind in terror , Jophel.” She put her hands on her hips but seemed unwilling to go anywhere near him, which was good because I was close to beating this vile male to a bloody, useless pulp.

“Then why did you?” He approached her, using the crook like a walking stick. He clearly did not intend to give it back. Susara held her ground. I tensed, readying to break from Brovdir’s grip the moment he threatened her.

“Caivid, stop ,” Brovdir hissed into my ear.

Susara’s face went red as she remembered the true reason she’d left her crook, and she began to stammer. “Well, that’s. . . there wasn’t really. I mean. . . it doesn’t matter why ?”

You could almost taste the confusion as murmurs rolled through the group.

“It doesn’t matter ? We’ve been hunting for you half the night!” Jophel raged. “Since your poor father discovered your room ransacked .”

“Ransacked?” She looked from him back to her father, who grabbed her hand as he trembled on the boulder. His movements looked painfully stiff. “My room wasn’t ransacked.”

“It was,” her father said thinly as Susara blinked in shock. “When I saw it. . . you have no idea how I feared for you, Susara. You’re really well? Truly?”

“Yes, Father, I’m just fine .” She patted his hand again. “This is all a misunderstanding.”

“You don’t need to lie for this male, Susara. You are safe now!” Waston held open her arms as if she expected Susara to run into them for comfort.

“I was safe before. That’s the whole reason I went to Caivid. To make a deal with him for protection.” She looked back to her father as she explained. “You thought I wasn’t safe in the woods alone. Well, I’m not going to be alone anymore. Caivid has agreed to be my protector.”

“You what ?” Chief Brovdir growled next to my ear and, Fades blast me , I guess I should have gotten his permission before vowing such a thing.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jophel raged, getting far too close to her again. “The flock is mine !”

“It isn’t yours, Jophel.” She puffed up her chest. “And it never will be. I can’t believe you thought I would just let you have it without a fight.”

“And your fight is to get that horrible monster to protect you? How can you trust it? It’s not human .”

I almost chuckled at how familiar his words were, but the humor died in my throat as both Susara and Headman Gerald gasped with horror. Even some of the humans in the crowd were gaping at the greasy man like he’d just told them he laughed at crying babies.

“How dare you, Jophel!” Headman Gerald said. “You know better than to speak such horrible things about our allies at Rove Wood Clan.”

“These warrior brutes are not our allies!” Jophel snapped.

“He’s right,” Waston said over the rumbling of the crowd. “All they want is to sire sons off our women, and apparently, they are willing to use force to do it!”

“I told you I went to Caivid on my own!”

“Child, you’ve been through a horror . You don’t know what happened to you!”

“ Enough! ” Headman Gereld bellowed so loud I could feel the ground shaking beneath my feet.

It was a wonder that a human male could have such volume.

“These warriors are the allies of the conjurer orcs, and therefore, we will be open to them. Or do you want to ruin the peace between our communities? Do you want us to starve this winter? Because that is where your distrust and cruelty will lead.”

To my surprise, most of the humans in the crowd bowed their heads and conceded to their headman’s judgment.

“Susara.” Headman Gerald turned back to my woman, who was holding her head high. “So, this was all a misunderstanding? You sought out this orc for aid?”

“Yes,” Susara said. “He’s agreed to protect me in exchange for mutton and wool.”

Her father blinked in shock and looked from me to her. I gave him a nod of assurance and his eyes went even wider .

“For mutton and wool?” Jophel spat. “You can’t be serious. These warriors only want one thing and it’s not sheep .”

“That’s right,” Waston said with a firm nod. “The moment he has you alone, he’s going to defile you!”

Susara opened her mouth to deny the woman, only to have her cheeks go bright as she realized I’d basically done just that.

I went cold. Fuck, was I as horrible a beast as they said I was?

Before I could question my own morals further, Susara caught my gaze and smiled. I exhaled out my tension and breathed her rosemary scent deep into my lungs.

I may have defiled her, but she’d wanted every moment of it. She’d been even more eager than I was.

Waston let out a gasp and Jophel cursed loudly, and even Susara’s father looked pale.

Fuck. Had the glance we’d shared been so potent?

“You heinous monster . You’ve ruined her, haven’t you?” Waston screamed. “You’ve defiled her! Don’t you deny it.”

Apparently, it had.

Susara looked smug until her father gripped her arm and pulled her to his side. “Susara, is that true?”

She sputtered, unable to get out a solid word.

To my surprise, Jophel spoke out for her. “Don’t speak such heinous lies about the woman I plan to, er, a woman of our village! Of course, she’s never. . . never. . .”

I watched as the realization crossed the man’s face as he looked at Susara’s disheveled hair and clothes. At her bright cheeks and her swollen lips.

“You have!” he raged, storming toward her. “You stupid wench. What have you done ?”

Her father instantly yanked her back behind him and got to his feet, even as his face was contorted with pain. Jophel looked as if he was about to attack them both.

I instantly saw red. My claws shot out, fists balled. The world narrowed to a pinprick, and only the vile, disgusting man who’d insulted my woman remained.

“Stop!”

“Grab him!”

“Fuck, Caivid, calm down !”

My arms were yanked back by Brovdir’s strong grip, and I fought against him, blind to everything but protecting Susara .

Then the headman came out of nowhere, gripped the back of Jophel’s shirt, and yanked him back so hard his ass bounced against the ground as he hit it.

“Jophel, restrain yourself !” The headman’s roar silenced the entire crowd. Jophel remained on the ground, too stunned to speak.

But there was one person who wasn’t too stunned.

“Oh, you see!” Waston cried. “You all see what kind of horrible monster he is! He was going to attack poor Jophel!”

“Jophel was about to attack me !”

Waston rounded on me next. “You’ve ruined her! You’ve taken advantage of her dire situation and used her! No man or beast will ever want to touch her now!”

If anything, her words calmed me, and I stopped struggling against Brovdir’s hold. Did she think I wanted my woman to be touched by another male?

My woman. The words sat crisp and sweet in the center of my chest.

“Waston, calm down now ,” Headman Gerald demanded, still holding Jophel’s arms behind his back.

Jophel’s eyes gleamed in fury. Unable to break free of his headman, he lashed out with words. “I’m not surprised. Susara has always been a loose girl. She’d have her head turned by a slug if it wore the right clothes.”

“How dare you?” her father raged. Susara had just gotten him sat back down and now he was fighting her to get back up.

“J-Jophel has every right to be upset!” Waston cried. “She was meant to be his wife, and this beast has defiled her.”

“What?” Susara’s sharp shriek of shock rang in my ears.

“You don’t need to be embarrassed,” Waston said quickly. “We all know you’ve been taken advantage of!” She looked at the crowd. “We’re all on your side!”

“Justice for Susara!”

“We demand retribution!”

“He should be put to death for defiling her.”

The cries of the villagers sobered me in an instant.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, shut up! ”

The rage-laced scream sent a sudden chill down my spine, like a deep dark cloud had passed over the sun.

Susara stepped forward with her eyes blazing, her arms crossed, and her father looking wide-eyed with shock as she shook her hand out of his grip.

“You lot are going to listen to me and end this stupidity now, or Fades help me, you will live to regret it.”